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THE HUMAN SIDE OF GREATNESS

Last
afternoon, my wife and I watched the English movie (Produced and directed by
legendary Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks in lead role as Captain ‘Sully’). As we came
out of the theatre, we saw a very elderly couple who seemed to have walking problem.
My wife and I offered our help to lead them till the lift.

“Did you like the film?”
I asked them.

“Oh, yes, yes… Very
much,” said the elderly man.

“Our daughter from
America called up and said we should watch it,” beamed the elderly woman.

I instinctively looked
at my wife and she had a broad smile on her face.

“The same thing
happened with us,” I told the elderly couple, “Our son called up and said we
should watch the film.”

Afew movies have left
me moved and inspired as ‘Sully’ has done. Most of us had read the news or
watched it on TV when it had happened on Jan 15, 2009. But, none of us have a
clue about the trauma and nightmareCaptainChesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his
co-pilot Jeffrey Zaslow
had to endure even after being hailed by the whole world as ‘Heroes’. The movie
is based on the autobiography, ‘Highest Duty’ written by the two pilots.

To me, the movie is about the human side of greatness… What the
courage of conviction is all about… It is about being honest and steadfast in
performing one’s duty… It is about taking full responsibility for one’s actions…
It is about how, despite all the great work you have done all your life, you
can be annihilated by one single ‘flight’…. How lonely and scared you can be in
your soul… How family and a few friends can keep your sanity… and, above all,
how the divine justice comes to guard you if you stay true to your heart.

There is this one scene, which inspired me the most… Everyone from
the ill-fated aircraft has been evacuated… everyone including the co-pilot and
the air-hostesses… Captain Sully is alone… he goes along the length and breath
of the aircraft to see if anyone is left behind… We hear the desperate cry, “Capitan
Sully, please come out’… But, Sully does it only after every one of those 155
passengers and crew are safely out… He is the last one to be evacuated…. Yes,
to him, that was the highest duty’!

If you have not yet watched the film, please do… You may smile
when you come out of the theatre telling someone, “A friend of mine said I
should watch the film!”

Hours later, however, Sullenberger learns that tests conducted
for theNational
Transportation Safety Boardsuggest
that the left engine simply idled when the birds were sucked in. On paper, this
would have left Sullenberger with enough power to return to LaGuardia or land
at Teterboro. Furthermore, the NTSB board of inquiry claims that several flight
simulations created from all available data of the incident conclude that the
plane could have been able to safely land at an airport even with both engines
disabled. Sullenberger, however, maintains that he lost both engines, which
left him without nearly enough time, speed or altitude to guide the plane to a
safe landing at an airport.

Sullenberger realizes that the NTSB is angling to have the
accident deemed to bepilot error--which would effectively end his
career. In a bid to save his reputation, he arranges to have the simulator
pilots available for a live recreation at the public hearing on the accident.
When both simulations end with successful landings, Sullenberger counters that
simulations are unrealistic without believable accounting for preliminary
protocols happening before any emergency maneuvers or basic human reactions to
the incident. When pressed on this, the inquiry board admits that the
simulation pilots were allowed several practice sessions before the formal
recorded simulation for this unprecedented emergency situation.

Conceding the point, the inquiry board orders the simulation
redone, but with a 35-second pause after the bird strike before any emergency
maneuvers are attempted--roughly matching the time Sullenberger had to react.
The simulation for a landing at LaGuardia ends with the plane plowing through a
pier before crashing into the Hudson, while the simulation for a landing at
Teterboro ends with the plane colliding with a building. Both would have
resulted in non-survivable crashes. After a short recess, the board of inquiry
announces that it just learned that the left engine had been recovered from the
Hudson. The engine shows indisputable signs that it was completely destroyed by
the bird strike.

With this evidence, the board concludes, with Skiles firmly
confirming, that Flight 1549 was an unavoidable accident, and that Sullenberger
did the best he could under the circumstances to save lives.

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